CHURCH leaders in Ludlow have met with Keith Barrow, leader of Shropshire Council, to express concerns about the impact of cuts on the most vulnerable people in the community.
A delegation from Ludlow Churches Together told the council chief how changes imposed additional hardship on people already struggling.
The group is giving continuing attention to concerns highlighted in the report Ludlow under Pressure.
This includes issues such as a lack of housing, youth unemployment and families not having enough food to feed themselves.
Michael Day, from the Churches Together Group, said that they had been told that the changes resulted from a need to cut £87 million over the past four years and another £80 million between now and 2016.
They had heard that the council believed that to achieve these objectives a radical approach was needed including changes to some services, cutting waste, greater partnership with the voluntary sector and privatising some services.
“Our concern is that such radical changes to the delivery of public services should not adversely affect their quality or reliability at a time when changes in benefits and services at a national level are likely to cause additional hardship to the more vulnerable members of the community,”
said Michael Day.
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